Obama Admin Criticized for Joke over Christians Attacked in Egypt

President Barack Obama's administration has been accused of joking about the violent attacks against Christians in Egypt after a question at a press briefing about the "red line" in the crisis.

"With people being killed, Christians in particular being targeted, churches being destroyed, what's the President's red line in Egypt?" White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked by a journalist at a press conference last week, to which he replied "Well, I didn't bring my red pen out with me today."

Earnest went on to say that the White House has "condemned in unambiguous terms all of the violence that has been perpetrated in Egypt," and said that the Obama administration is encouraging Egypt's interim government to work toward a non-violent solution.

The American Center for Law and Justice pointed out that no one in the briefing room reacted to the "red pen" quip and the group accused the administration of making jokes at a very serious time when people and children are dying.

"The room was silent – not a chuckle from a single journalist in the White House briefing room – dead silence," the ACLJ observed. "Christian persecution is no joke."

More than 70,000 people have signed a petition calling on Obama to make sure that foreign aid given to Egypt comes with the condition that Christians are protected from the violence they have suffered at the hands of Muslim-Brotherhood backed Islamists.

"Seventy churches shouldn't be burned down throughout Egypt. That's happening because the military is not yet willing to stand in the way," Sekulow said in a phone interview with The Christian Post last week.

"Words are not enough. Yes, the United States – when we speak, it's powerful, but what also makes us powerful is the amount of funding we provide to the world and I think this is one of the opportunities we have to at least give this Muslim majority population and military, which we've had a pretty good relationship with, the opportunity to do the right thing."

There have been several reports of burned down churches, monasteries and Christian schools, as well as of Christians who have been killed at the hands of Islamists accusing them of playing a role in the protests that lead to the ousting of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.

"The jihadist Muslim Brotherhood, furious that it has lost power, is taking out its rage on Egyptian Christians. It's past time for a clear message from the United States," the petition to Obama states.